Photographic roll film camera



- Jurie 24, 1941. R TAKACS 2,247,104

PHOTOGRAPHIG ROLL FILM CAMERA Filed Aug. 20, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet l ANorway June 24, 1941. Acs 2,247,104

PHOTOGRAPHIC ROLL FILM CAMERA Filed Aug. 20. 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 newM/i W Aifamey I June 24, 1941. TAKACS 2,247,104

PHOTOGRAPHIC ROLL FILM CAMERA Filed Aug. 20, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Mlhvqnfon 7 /%w By MWW Attorney 2,247,104 PHOTOGRAPHIC ROLL FILM CAMERAPeter Takacs, Budapest,

Voigtlander & Sohn wick, Germany, a 50 many Hungary, assignor toAktiengeseilschait, Brunsint-stock company of Ger- Application August20, 1938, Serial No. 225,895 In Hungary February 24, 1937 4 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in photographic roll film cameras,and more particularly in cameras of the type in which the size of theexposing aperture and the aperture of the view finder may be varied bymeans of movable screens. One of the objects of the improvements is toprovide a camera of this type in which the said screens for the exposingaperture and the said screens of the view finder are coupled with eachother so that the size of the exposing aperture always corresponds tothe section of the image viewed through the view finder. Thus theexposing aperture may be reduced to the desired size and set into theposition corresponding to the desired portion of the scene by viewingthrough the view finder. Another object of the improvements is toprovide a camera of the type indicated 7 in which the means foroperating the said'screens controlling the exposing aperture and theaperture of the view finder require little space, and with this objectin view my invention consists in constructing the said operating meansin the form of a rope gearing of the construction described hereinafter.

Another object of the improvements is to provide means for indicatingthe ends 01' the selected or ion of the exposing aperture on the exposedfilm, which means are operated by the shutter release. In a modificationthe body of the cameras constructed so that the said marks may be mad onthe film! backing paper by means of a pencil or the like through therear wall of the sa d body. I

Another object of the improvements is to couple he shutter releasewiththe film feeding mechan sm in such a way that after each exposure thefilm must first be fed before the shutter release can again be operated,and with this object in view my invention consists in providing lockingmeans for the shutter release which are adapted to be released by thefilm winding mechanism.

Other objects of the improvements will appear from the followingdescription.

For the purpose of explaining the invention an example embodying thesame has been shown in the ccompanying drawings in which the same refence characters have been used in all the views to indicatecorresponding parts. In said drawings- Fig: 1 is a sectional elevationof the camera taken on the line l l of Fig. 2,

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the camera partly in section and showingthe body of the camera open to show the screens for the exposing aper isshown at 2,

ture, the operating mechanism therefor, and other parts,

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the shutter release lever, thelocking mechanism therefor, and the releasing mechanism therefor, thebody and base board of the camera being indicated in dotted lines,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional plan view taken on the line 4-4 ofFig. 2 and showing the mechanism for marking one of the ends of theexposing aperture,

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4,

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a frame fitted within the body of thecamera and formed with the exposing aperture,

Fig. 7 is a perspective rear view of the camera with the rear part ofthe body of the camera removed for showing the screens for the exposingaperture and its operating mechanism,

Fig. 8 is an elevation showing the view finder and its screens,

Fig.9 is an elevation viewed from the rear side and showing the camerawith its side members horizontal and the view finder in operativeposition.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view viewed from the front side of the cameraand showing the view finder, and

Fig. 11 is a detail modification.

In the example shown in the figures the body of the camera comprises twoparts i and 9'. The front part i which carries hinged to it the baseperspective view showing a board It is pressed inwardly at m, and it isformed with an aperture for the passage of the light rays therethrough.Within the part i a frame n is fitted which contains the exposingaperture 0. The inwardly pressed portion m provides spool chambers 11.and b.

The exposing aperture 0 is adapted to be reduced in size by means of twoscreens and I located at the front side of the frame n and the exposingaperture. The inner edges of the said screens are cranked forwardly atopposite sides, as and the said cranked portions are made integral withrails 3 which are formed with longitudinal slots 5 guided on pins 6fixed to flanges 4 of the portion m of the front part i of the body ofthe camera. The lateral edges of the screen I are bent forwardly to forman ear 1 and a rib I which are in sliding engagement with the flanges 4.At the front side of the lower screen I one of the flanges I is formedwith a rib 4',

and at the opposite side the said screen I is formed with an ear I. Thescreen I slides with its front face and its ear I respectively on thesaid rib 4 and the flange t. The ribs t are provided with extensions 4on which the the ears I are guided when the shutters I and I areretracted outwardly,

In a modification in lieu of the rib I of the upper screen I a ribsimilar to the rib 4' may be provided on the flange A.

For moving the shutters in opposite directions rope pulleys and stringsare provided. As shown, rope pulleys 8 are fixed to a common shaft-i8mounted in the side wallsof the front part i of the body and carrying amilled button c.at its outer end. Respectively above and below theexposing aperture pairs of rollers 9 and I8 are provided on the portionm. On the said pulleys 8 and on the rollers 9 strings II are trainedwhich are fixed to the upper ends of the rails 3. On the rollers III aString I I' is trained'which is fixed to the bottom ends of the rails 3.The upper strings I I are trained on the pulleys 8 in opposite senses,as is best shown in Fig. '7, and they are fixed to the said pulleys. Ifthe'shaft III is turned in clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 7, theleft hand string I I pulls the'upper screen I in upward direction, andsuch upward movement is transmitted through the string I I to thelowerscreen I which therefore is'pulled downwardly, the right handstring I I being unwound from the pulley 8 by the clockwise rotarymovement of the shaft 18. Thus the screens enlarge the exposingaperture. As the screens have equal movements the center of the exposingaperture bounded thereby is always located in the optical axis of thecamera.

At the ends (Figs. 2 and '1) of the adjacent right hand edges of thescreens I and I' noses I6 and I6 are provided which extend rearwardlytherefrom and pass through slots 9 and h made in the frame n. The uppernose I8 is bent laterally and formed with a point, and its bottom edgeexactly corresponds to the bottom edge of the screen I, and (when thecamerais assembled and changed) it is located at the rear' of the filmand its backing paper. Thus the said laterally bent portion of the noseI8 provides a hand which may be inspected through an elongated window I3made in a projecting portion I2 of the rear wall of the body 1, the saidwindow being closed by red glass and permitting the hand I8 to be seenfrom without. Thus the position of the hand I6 indicates the position ofthe upper edge of the portion of the film which is to be exposed.

The lower nose I8 may likewise be in the form of a hand the upper edgeof which corresponds in position to the upper edge of the screen I, andat the rear of the said nose I8 the rear wall of the part 9 may beformed with an open slot 88 adapted to be closed by a lid 8| andpermitting the lower edge of the exposed portion of the film to bemarked on the backing paper by means of a pencil, as is shown in Fig.11.

In the construction shown in Figs. 2, 4, and '7, to the said nose I6 aleaf spring I1 is secured which has a few prongs fixed thereto, andwhich is bulged rearwardly. The said spring is adapted to be depressedfor punching the film .or the backing paper thereof. As shown, the saidprongs are slightly spaced downward from the upper edge of the screen I,so that the successive film sections are spaced from one another whenthefilm is fed upwardly and with the holes made in the backing papervisible behind the hand I8. For operating the punching prongs a slide I9is provided which carries an arm 83 disposed longitudinally of thecamera. To the said slide a. button 28 is fixed which projects outwardlythrough the rear wall of the body of the camera. Springs I8 are providedfor retractin the slide I9, so that the spring I'I retracts the prongsfrom the film when the slide I9 is returned into initial position.

In lieu of or in addition to the hand operated button 28 means connectedwith the shutter release may be provided for moving the slide I9, whichfor this purpose are connected with an arm 2|. This modification will bedescribed hereafter.

By having the slide I9 mounted in the part i of the body and out ofpositive connection with the spring II it is carried along by the part ibeing opened without being interfered with by the indicating device. Thearm 83 of the slide I9 permits punching of the film backing paper in anyposition of the screen I.

The film winding spool II is mounted within the chamber a, and the filmdelivering spool II within the chamber b. Guide rollers I2 for the filmj are rotatably mounted on arms I3 and arms I3 are pivotally mounted onthe front part i of the body. Thus, when the camera has been opened thesaid rollers may be retracted rearwardly, so that the spools II, II arereadily accessible.-

In Figs. 8, 9 and 10 I have shown the view finder which is likewiseprovided with means for varying the section of the scene viewedtherethrough. For this purpose screens 26 are provided the constructionand operation of which are similar to the construction and operation ofthe screens I, I'.

In describing the view finder reference will be made to Figs. 8, 9 and10 in which the camera has been placed with its longitudinal sideshorizontal, because in this position the view finder is best shown.

The view finder consists of two plates I4 and 15 which as shown in Fig.9 are hinged to the top wall of the body of the camera. The plate 14 isprovided with a rectangular aperture 16 which can be enlarged or reducedin size by means of the said transversely movable screens 28 which areformed'respectively at their top and bottom sides with rails 28 formedwith slits 28 guided on pins 25. To the said rails strings 28 are fixed,which are trained in opposite senses on a grooved roller 23, the saidstrings being fixed to the said roller. To the opposite ends of therails 28' a string 28' is fixed which is trained on pins 21.

The roller 23 is connected with a roller 29 having two circumferentialgrooves 38 by means of which it is driven from the shaft III on whichthe pulleys 8 are mounted. The shaft 18 is extended through one of theside walls of the body of the camera (as viewed in Fig. 2) and into acasing d, and the said projecting end is provided with twocircumferential grooves 36. Within the said casing d two grooved guiderollers 31 are mounted. Within the grooves 38 the ends of strings 88 arefixed which are trained on the anticlockwise direction the said rotarymovement is transmitted to the screens of the view finder, the ratio ofthe movement of the said screens and the screens i, i corresponding tothe ratio of the diameters of the various pulleys. Any change in therelative positions of the screens of the view finder and the exposingaperture is impossiblefbecause the strings 86 are fixed to the roller 29and the shaft 10.

The rear plate 15 of the finder has a plate 18 slidably mounted thereonwhich is provided with guide ways 38, 30, and a conical pin 3! carriedby a leaf spring 19 projects into a slot 32 of the plate 15 and holdsthe plates :75 and 18 in frictional engagement. By shifting the slide E8the aperture 33 of the said plate may be shifted for compensatingparallax. For setting the plate 78 with its aperture 33 into correctposition scale marks 88 are provided on the plate 15. The size of theaperture 33 may be reduced by means of a mask 34 having an opening oi,the said mask being pivotally mounted on the plate iii.

The shutter release mechanism is shown in Fig. 3.- It comprises arelease arm 45 which is hinged at 42 to a slide 39 mounted .in thebottom part of the body ofthe camera, the axis of the hinge 42 beinglocated coaxially of the hinge of the base board it. A spring 44 tendsto pullv the slide 39 forwardly, as viewed in Fig. 3. The slide 39carries an upwardly directed arm 40 to which a pin 4| is fixed whichprojects laterally through the side wall of the body. The releasemechanism is operated by exerting pressure on the said pin 4| the saidshutter being retracted by the spring 44 when the pin 4| is released.Outside the body of the camera the aforesaid arm 2| is fixed to the pin4|, so that the punching device I1 is operated whenever the releasemechanism is operated. Thus it is impossible to forget punching of thefilm.

Further, the release mechanism cooperates with the film windingmechanism in such a way that operation of the release mechanism isimpossible before the film winding mechanism has been opera'ted. Thismechanism is shown in Figs. 3 and 9, Fig. 9 showing the locking devicefor the release mechanism in looking position, while Fig. 3 shows thesame in releasing position.

For locking the release mechanism a latch lever 55 is provided which ispivotally mounted on the outside of the side wall of the body of thecamera and within a casing e. The said lever is adapted for engagementwith a slot 56 made in the pin 4|, and it is held in this lockingposition by a spring 51 tending to hold the lever in engagement with astop pin 58 shown in Fig. 9.

At one side the lower spool 1| gagement with a short shaft 46 projectingfrom the body of the camera into the casing e, and to the said shaftspaced disks 48 and 48' are fixed between which a third disk 49 isrotatably mounted. The disk 48 is formed at opposite sides with marginalcut-cut portions 50, 50. The disk 49 is made integral with two arms 5|which are equipped with pins, 52, 52' engaging in the cut-out portions50 and 50'. The pin 52 is extended outwardly, and it is engaged by aleaf spring 53 fixed to the shaft 45, the said spring tending to .tumthe disk 49 in clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 3, so, that thepins 52 and 52 bear on the edges 54 and 54' of the cut-out portions 50and 58'. The bottom end of the lever 55 is cranked into the path of thearms 5|, 5|. To the arm 40 a pin 59 is'flxed which is passed'outwardlythrough a bore of the side wall of the body and into position forengagement with the lever 55. In the locking position shown in Fig. 9the said pin is retracted is in loose enportion 5!] or inwardly and awayfrom the lever 55. When however the lever 55 is turned into the positionshown in Fig. 3 in which it is out of engagement with the sloti55, theslide 39 is shifted outwardly .together with the pin 59, and the saidpin locks the lever 55 in non-locking position. Now the release lever isin operative position.

Starting from Fig, 9, the locking mechanism is operated as follows: a

When the filmis fed the shaft 45 and the disk 48 are turned in clockwisedirection, and the disk 49 is carried along by the spring 58 until oneof its arms 5i or 5| engages the downwardly directed arm of the lever55. The force exerted by the spring 55 is smaller than that of thespring 5i, and therefore the disk 49 is now arrested by the lever 55during the further film feeding movement, until the trailing edge 50 ofthe cut-out 58 engages the said lever. Now the lever 55 is carried alongand turned in anticlockwise direction (Fig. 3). Thereby the lever iswithdrawn from the slot 55 so that the slide 39 is shifted by the spring44 forwardly and into the position shown in full lines. The pin 55 is inthe position shown in Fig. 3, and it looks the lever 55 in releasingposition even when it has been released from the arm 5i. By the rotarymovement of the disk 49 the tension of the spring 53 has been increasedand when the arm 56 has moved past the lever 55 the disk 59 -is returnedby the spring 53 into the original position shown in Fig. 3. Now therelease mechanism is in the unlocked position shown in Fig. 3, and thepin 4| may be pressed inwardly. Thereby the slide 39 carrying therelease lever 43 is shifted inwardly and into the position shown indotted lines in which it releases the shutter, and the pin 59 releasesthe lever 55 which thereupon swings to engagement with the slot 56 inpin 4|. This is possible only after the slide 39 and the pin 4| havebeen pressed forwardly by the spring 44. Now the release mechanism isagain locke By the operation of the release lever also the rail i9 hasbeen pressed inwardly by the arm 2| so that the prongs l'i punch thefilm backing paper. When the film is again fed it is arrested when theholes made in the said backing the prongs are visible through the window13 and behind the hand I6. Thus the section of the film fed is a littlelarger than the exposing aperture bounded by the screens and i', and thesuccessive pictures are slightly spaced from each other by a narrowblank strip of film.

By means of the apparatus pictures of different size are made accordingto the position of the screens i, and accordingly the shaft 48 is turnedthrough different angles. Therefore unless the arms 5| and 5| aremounted so as to be returned by the spring 53 into initial positions, itmay happen that the said arms are left at the end of the film feedingmovement in a position in which they are engaged by the latch lever 55and prevent the same from being returned into lock- 4 ing position. Thisis prevented in the construc tion described above as follows: When thearm 5| or 5| has passed the lever 55 it is advanced by the spring 53relatively to. the disk 48 and with the pin 52 (52) into engagement withthe leading end wall 54 (54') of the cut-out portion 50 (50'). If at theend of the feeding movement'the said arm engages the lever 55, then, onthe subsequent operation of the shutter release mechanism, the lever 55returning into locking position will turn the arm 5| (5|') against theaction of the spring 53 in anti-clockwise direction, which movementpaper by arms 5| depends on the size of the pictures to be made. In acamera of the size 6.9 cm. two

arms are sufficient even for making pictures of the smallest size.

When the camera is being loaded care must be taken that the film bepassed beneath the pins of spring I! and the hand It. Thereafter the newfilm is fed until the first number upon the backing paper of the filmappears in the window 6|.

The size of the exposing surface is set by means of the view finderthrough which a portion of the scene is seen which depends on theposition of the screens 26, which screens are set into position by meansof the milled button 0. By the operation of the release lever the end ofthe exposed portion of the film is marked on the backing paper of thefilm, and this mark is brought to the hand is which is visible throughthe elongated window 13 (shown in Fig. 9) before the next exposure ismade. The length of the portion of the film which has not yet beenexposed need be ascertained by calculation only after the number '7 haspassed the window 5 l I claim:

1. In a roll film camera, comprising an object lens, a casing formedwith an exposing aperture, and film feeding means, the invention hereindescribed which consists of screens movable in a direction parallel tothe movement of the film across said aperture for varying the operativesize thereof, the screen located at the leading end of the film beingfed being provided at the end bounding the exposing aperture and at therear thereof with a hand substantially corresponding -in position to thebounding edge of the screen, a

camera casing having its rear wall formed with an aperture through whichsaid hand is visible, and marking means connected with said screenlocated at the trailing end of the film and nearly corresponding inposition to the edgeof said screen bounding the exposing aperture.

2. In a roll film camera including .an object lens, a casing formed withan exposing aperture, and film feeding means, the invention hereindescribed which consists of a pair of screens movably borne by saidcasing and defining the leading and trailing edges of such aperture,indicating means borne by the screen that definesthe leading edge ofsuch aperture, such means extending when a fiim is in place in thecamera to the rear of the film, marking means borne by the screen thatdefines the trailing edge of the said aperture, such marking means alsoextendin when a film. is in place in the camera to the rear of the film,the said camera casing being formed with a window through which theindicating means first named above are visible, and means extendingthrough the casing for operating said marking means. I

3. In a roll film camera, comprising a casing having an exposingaperture, and means for feed- I ing a film across said exposingaperture, the invention herein described which consists of screensmovable in opposite directions across said'exposing aperture for varyingthe operative area thereof, a rotary shaft located at one side of said.

said shafts for operating the screens controlling the exposing apertureand the screens controlling the area of-said view finder, the diametersof the rotary members on which'said strings are trained being such thatthe area bounded by said screens on the exposing aperture corresponds tothe area through which the scene is seen through said view finder.

4. In a roll film camera that includes a casing and means for feeding alength or film through a planar course from a delivery spool to awinding spool, the invention herein described of means for varying theaperture of exposure through which the film in its planar course isexposed, such means consisting of two screens, each screen beingprovided with a rail and the rails of the two screens being borne forlongitudinal reciprocation one upon each of the opposite sides of thecasing, guiding means borne by said casing and engaging said rails, acord trained upon sheaves and connecting the two said screens, wherebyadvance of one of the screens effects corresponding advance of the otherand retrogression of the second effects corresponding retrogression ofthe I first, a rotatable member, and several connections between saidrotatable member and the rails of said screens, whereby rotation of saidmember in one directcion effects advance of one of the screens androtation in the opposite direction efiects retrogression of the other ofthe screens.

PETER TAKAcs.

